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Chicago walmarts watch out

Hi we have been doing several walmarts for years and now you have this national company coming in which is us maintenance to take over the snow in the chicago area.

Beware of this company they want the snow contractor to work for nothing they basically want you to do a typical walmart for 12-15k this doesnt even cover the salt.
These walmart jobs in chicago go for about 40k to 60k seasonal depending on the size of the lot with a cap.
Usm wants no plowing up to 0-1.5 inches just salting.
You know and i know this isnt going to work.
This is the biggest liability a contractor could sign up for. Usm wants the small guy to take all the liability so when they ask for a certificate ins you are signing your life away. You might as well jump off the bridge. Think about it, no plowing up to 0-1.5 inches. Can you imagine the slip and falls and the amount salt used which would be a extra expense to you.
Take this post as it is, or chicago contractors can say enough is enough from these national companys and do not work for them. Eventually they will be out of business so stay away from these companies if you still want to be in business lets stick together and squeeze usm out of chicago and others.
We are tired of this.

really? so 12-15k for a seasonal price? wtf? your right on the normal prices though.

maybe thats why they havnt called us back about the ones in nj... probably know that theres no way that we'd ever entertain #s that low haha, we get that much for small properties like parking lots that are small and storage places hit those #s easily LAST year.. imagine if we got MORE snow for this year!

i have posted this numerous times, so i am going to post it here, too, weither you normally contract with a walmart or not, phone WM about USM, express your concern, flood WM head office with phone call about this, eventually they are going to have listen.

Why does everyone care what these people do?
there's plenty out There....if nobody performed services at there price...perhaps the national providers would diminish for a season or two. JMO

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I enjoy reading these, but I don't have any vested interest. But I have an answer to your "Who cares?" question. All of you should. From what I am reading, they are going to do the same thing the mexicans are doing to labor forces. They are going to drive compensation and quality down to nothing and you will have no choice but to bend over and take it. If you think this will be limited to WM you are crazy. Mexicans used to push brooms. Now they are doing every un-licensed trade out there.

Sparky,
I can agree with you that it wont stop at walmart; however, I cant speak for everyone but...this is not my only income. I'm a firm believer price the job for what its worth to me, if I don't want it...simply move on.
I have my fair share of over the boarder competition, most of my customers will only use fluent English speaking contractors though.

every since i went mex, my quality of workmaship went up, work attitude went up, calling in sick days went down to zero, and complaining went down......immigrants are the only way to go in my biz, whitey doesn't like hard, hot work anymore...

I don't think USM is going to make much of an impact in the Chicago land area. We have to many big players ( Snow Systems, Artic, Brickman ) that have the money and will power to stand up to USM. I know the law suites will go flying if USM tries to pull some of their dirty little tricks on any of these larger multi million dollar companies.

The small to medium sized snow removal companies need to watch their backs though. They are the ones that USM is targeting because they can push those guy's around.

I don't think USM is going to make much of an impact in the Chicago land area. We have to many big players ( Snow Systems, Artic, Brickman ) that have the money and will power to stand up to USM. I know the law suites will go flying if USM tries to pull some of their dirty little tricks on any of these larger multi million dollar companies.

The small to medium sized snow removal companies need to watch their backs though. They are the ones that USM is targeting because they can push those guy's around.

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dont forget the the big boys im plowing for Tovar Snow Professinals ha ha. gotta rep Tovar i cant say anything but good things about them. i heard about USM messing with them and they just laughed at them.

dont forget the the big boys im plowing for Tovar Snow Professinals ha ha. gotta rep Tovar i cant say anything but good things about them. i heard about USM messing with them and they just laughed at them.

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I have heard them name more then once but didn't mention them because i forgot about them

Like i said. there are to many big players in this area and if USM crosses paths with these guys it will be the end of USM. They have the money to tie USM up in the court system for years.

It's not just chicago its all places. Chicago area you are right on with the prices what it should cost and what USM is thinkng they are going to get it done for. I have done alot of work on this and as of today No one and I mean NO ONE can provide me with anything that states Wal-Mart and USM have a contract. IF you sign a contract with USM you cannot and will not work for Wal-Mart for 2 years if they get this done. Patience my friends. USM is up against the wall we just need to let it fall on them DON'T SIGN anything with USM. and then they can figure out how to explain to Wal-Mart they don't have anyone. USM

Once again. Stick together don't bow down to there standards. USM sucks they ruin the market and put businesses out of business. Just another note for all here brinkman is now doing the same as usm. We use to plow lowes and now brinkman just pulled a usm deal like wal mart. My buddy talked to them the other day and brinkman says that a lowes could be plowed with one pickup truck it should only take three hours the whole store at 60.00 hr. Quote from them we the plow companys have been taking advantage of these companys and charging them too much money. Its about time we give them a break. They must have hired a former usm worker. Kiss my ass 3 hrs

The Walmart around here is pretty dang cheap as it is anyways. I looked at a bid sheet from the same company and I don't want to compete with them for anything. And the lot looks like crap during a snow storm. There is always about 3" of snow on it.